Megan wasn’t there the next day either. Something was wrong, because she still wasn’t online.
That was Thursday. If she wasn’t at school the next day, he wasn’t sure what he’d do. But he knew that Megan would normally hang at the pool on a Friday afternoon and her dad would pick her up around six.
This had been her routine since Year 9. The moment Shaun figured it out, he made sure he was at the pool every summer Friday too. They would both swim laps; Shaun loving swimming alongside her. And then they would lie in the sun and talk, or sometimes just sit and let the sun warm them. Shaun had spent countless hours like this, internally screaming, desperate to lean over and kiss her, taste the chlorine and the joy. But he’d never had the courage.
Shaun and Will spent their Thursday lunchbreak focusing on the car hire documents. By now the papers were wrinkled and slightly smelly from being stored at the bottom of Will’s backpack. When the bell went for last period, Will threw his hands in the air in frustration.
‘It’s a dead end,’ he said.
Shaun asked if he could keep the documents for himself and Will grumbled. Shaun was getting frustrated too. They had a couple of scribbled notes and a muddy pair of boots. So what?
He thought about biking out to the airport again, to see if he could find the car that had been returned early. Maybe he could search through it. He’d memorised the licence plate: 839 LZE. But this was a long shot. The car, if it was still there and not hired out again, would have been cleaned by now. Even if it was in the car park, how much information could it actually provide?
Besides, his mum was waiting for him when he arrived home from school that afternoon. She was at the dining-room table, laptop open, phone nearby, a cigarette stub on an old plate and a half-finished cup of tea in her hand.
‘Dearest son of mine. Come and sit down.’
He felt himself become heavier. This wasn’t good. Usually she was too tired or stressed out to talk properly.
He sank onto the chair beside her.
‘Yeah?’ he said.
She closed the laptop. ‘Why weren’t you at school yesterday?’
‘I was.’ It wasn’t a complete lie. They’d made it back to school for lunch.
‘Then why did the school call me and say you weren’t there for the morning roll?’
He couldn’t think of a response. Silence settled between them. She was waiting.
‘Well?’
Shaun searched for a lie – anything that would make sense and get her to back off.
‘I went to visit Dad’s grave.’
The words tumbled out of him before he could think.
She didn’t move. ‘Okay,’ she said. ‘All right.’
She cleared her throat and opened her laptop again. He was almost scared now. His mother was still. He wasn’t sure if it was the right thing to say, but it had stopped her asking questions. Bringing up his dad was risky. But he knew it would get her to stop prying.
‘I got back after lunch,’ he said. ‘Sorry. I knew I shouldn’t have, I just … I don’t know.’
‘I got off the phone with the hospital just before you came in,’ she said. ‘I’ve booked you in with the psychologist. There’s only the one round here, and she’s in for a couple of days a week. Your appointment’s not for well over a month, unfortunately. But next week sometime we’ll need to go see the doctor because we’ve got to get a referral for Medicare. It’ll cost us an arm and a leg otherwise.’
‘I don’t need a psychologist.’
‘It’s not up for discussion, Shaun. In the meantime, you need to tell me if you want to go and see the grave again. You can’t just take time off school.’
He nodded. ‘Yeah, but I’m not crazy. I’m not making stuff up.’
‘I believe you, okay?’ She leant in closer to him, offering her hand. ‘But I still think you need to see someone.’
‘If you believe me, why aren’t you more upset? This guy was killed! And the killer could still be out there.’ He was suddenly standing up.
She brought her hands up to her face and massaged the hollows of her eyes.
‘Shaun,’ she said firmly, ‘why would it be a murder? From what it sounds like, you saw a man who took his own life.’
He said nothing.
His mum watched him carefully. ‘You didn’t think of that?’
He looked away, suddenly feeling weak. His heart was water now, and with each beat he felt the floor coming closer.
‘Sweetie,’ she said, ‘you saw a man who drowned himself.’ She paused. ‘Shaun, is this about your dad?’
He felt the hot sting of tears in his eyes.
‘Are you sure you saw this man?’
That night Shaun lay in bed and looked at the shadows on the ceiling.
He kept checking his phone to see if Megan was online. But she was nowhere.
He thought about his dad. He’d never seen his body. Only heard the news from his mother. It was over a year ago now, but when he started to think about it, he couldn’t help but be sucked back into the memory, like a dream.
He’d been playing a game in the lounge room. She’d come in, her face wrecked. She wasn’t meant to be home for a while yet.
He paused the game and listened to her.
Dad had died. He’d done something stupid to himself, using a tree out on the edge of town. He’d been drinking. He hadn’t left a note. He was gone.
He could still remember his first thought.
Should he turn off the game, or un-pause it to get to a save point?
Shaun hadn’t slept, so his backpack felt twice as heavy as usual, and he lurched off to school with darkness pulling at his heels.
Megan was nowhere. Again. He’d put his togs into the bottom of his bag that morning. He’d have to wait six long hours before he might see her, and even then, what if she didn’t turn up?
He’d sent her a message every day. He didn’t want her to think he was a stalker, and it was starting to feel awkward. She hadn’t replied to a single one.
An announcement came over the PA. The principal’s rough and tinny tones echoed through the school speakers. There would be an assembly this morning. Everyone was to gather in the hall.
Assemblies were usually on Mondays, but Shaun didn’t really think about this until he made his way to the hall and saw Queen Bitch and Charlie standing there with the principal.
He looked for Will. Always late. He reached for his phone and texted.
R u here??? Police + special assembly.
He was probably still cycling to school. Shaun sat in his usual home group spot and waited. He bit his lip.
What was going on?
His phone buzzed.
Just arrived. Coming in now.
The principal took to the small metal stage. The teachers hushed the students.
‘Okay,’ he began. ‘Good morning, students.’
Everyone chorused, ‘Good morning, Mr Hagger.’
‘I’m here today with some worrying news. It’s about one of our past students. We’re a community here and when something happens we come together. So today I’ve been asked by Sergeant Baker and Constable Thompson to get you together because they need some help. I’m afraid that Tyson Grant has been missing for three days, and everyone’s getting quite concerned.’
Tyson Grant.
Shaun swallowed.
‘Some of you will know Tyson; some of you will never have met him.’
Shaun knew exactly who Tyson was.
‘But most of you know Megan Grant, his younger sister.’
So he hadn’t dreamt it.
The man he’d seen in the water was Tyson Grant.